{"id":2447948,"date":"2019-08-24T21:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T03:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-girls-basalts-bower-open-cross-country-season-with-wins-at-longhorn-invite\/"},"modified":"2019-08-24T21:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T03:20:00","slug":"aspen-girls-basalts-bower-open-cross-country-season-with-wins-at-longhorn-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-girls-basalts-bower-open-cross-country-season-with-wins-at-longhorn-invite\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen girls, Basalt\u2019s Bower open cross country season with wins at Longhorn Invite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Basalt High School junior Sierra Bower competes in the Longhorn Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, at Crown Mountain Park. Bower won the season-opening cross country race in 19:21.6. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

If Basalt High School junior Sierra Bower plans to compete for the state cross country championship \u2014 and it seems she does \u2014 she needed to put in a lot of extra work over the offseason. The standout distance runner claims she did just that, and backed it up by winning the season-opening Longhorn Invitational on Saturday at Crown Mountain Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did some good, hard work over the summer and I\u2019m happy with it,\u201d Bower said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really going for time today, just placement, just because it\u2019s such an early meet in the season. I wasn\u2019t too focused on that, but I\u2019m happy with that time for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bower won Saturday\u2019s race with a time of 19 minutes, 21.6 seconds, holding off Glenwood Springs freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin (19:38.6), who forced Bower to keep the pedal down over the final stretch. Those two finished a good distance ahead of Aspen junior Kylie Kenny, who took third in 21:06.8.<\/p>\n

It was Bower\u2019s first win on her home course. She was about four minutes slower when she competed in the race as a freshman and had to sit out the Longhorn Invite as a sophomore because of injury. She\u2019s been plenty strong since, having won the regional hosted by Aspen last fall before finishing 24th at the state meet in 20:12. Bower also finished second in the 2-mile race at the state track meet in the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked what I saw. Sierra\u2019s got a compliment of kids with her and we are hoping we can ride this for a while,\u201d BHS coach Ron Lund said of Saturday\u2019s meet. \u201cShe had a solid summer and I think she is excited for what\u2019s ahead. We\u2019ve got some meets where hopefully she will butt heads with some of the upper runners in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bower likely will need to shred even more time to have a chance at the state championship this fall. Four runners finished in less than 19 minutes in the girls\u2019 3A race at state a year ago, with Kaylee Thompson of The Classical Academy winning in 18:19.2. The good news is that all four of those girls were seniors, which could open the door for someone like Bower to step in.<\/p>\n

If confidence is a factor, Bower looks to be in good shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely feeling very confident going into the season just with all this training that I\u2019ve been doing,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m super thankful for my team. We are looking very strong this year, which I\u2019m super excited about. It\u2019s so motivating to watch everyone work so hard in practice. It\u2019s been super nice having an awesome team this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Basalt girls finished second as a team on Saturday with 45 points, falling only a point short of Aspen. Glenwood Springs was third with 70 points, followed by Gunnison (110) and Soroco (153).<\/p>\n

Missing a couple of veteran runners, the Longhorns relied on their youth on Saturday. Three other BHS runners finished in the top 12 of the girls\u2019 race, and all three are freshmen: Katelyn Maley was sixth (21:19.1), Sarah Levy was seventh (21:34.5) and Ava Lane was 12th (22:05.3).<\/p>\n

ASPEN GIRLS SHOW OFF YOUTH, DEPTH IN WIN<\/p>\n

While Aspen may lack the singular star power that is Bower, the girls do have plenty of options. Also missing many key runners because of experiential education or college visits, the Skiers still landed five in the top 18 of Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just speaks to our depth,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cWe have a team where we all lift each other up and try hard from first to last to everywhere in between, so I think the fact that we are running strong as a team right from the beginning is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind Kenny\u2019s third-place finish was junior Kendall Clark, who was fourth in 21:14.7. AHS freshman Elsie Weiss was ninth (21:49.8) in her high school debut, while junior Eva McDonough was 10th (21:57.2) and freshman Michaela Kenny was 18th (23:23).<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a full squad it\u2019s really encouraging to be able to win with a lot of the freshman really stepping up and picking up a lot of slack for the girls who weren\u2019t here,\u201d AHS coach Chris Keleher said. \u201cThey know they are going to be good and they know it\u2019s all going to come from their own hard work. Kind of untapped potential, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kylie Kenny is Aspen\u2019s top returning runner based off last year\u2019s state results, where she finished 17th in 3A with a time of 19:55.2, ahead of even Bower. Clark was 33rd at state in 20:30.4. The Skiers finished seventh at state in 2018 and return essentially their entire team in 2019, not to mention the influx of talented freshmen.<\/p>\n

THE BOYS TRY TO REBUILD<\/p>\n

Neither Aspen nor Basalt have much to offer in terms of boys\u2019 team results early this season. In fact, neither had enough to even post a team score. Both found something to grasp onto in terms of individuals results, however, with Basalt senior Tucker Bruce finish fourth in 18:53.3. BHS junior Noah Allen was 14th in 19:47.9.<\/p>\n

\u201cTucker is focused this year,\u201d Lund said. \u201cHe really wants to go to state and I think he\u2019s running the way he needs to, or at least heading in the ride direction to get that top-15 individual spot. So that\u2019s the focus for him. And Noah could be right there too. He had a great summer and he\u2019s only a junior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen\u2019s top finisher on the boys\u2019 side was sophomore Brenon Reed, who was 15th in 20:13.5. AHS freshman Eske Roennau was 18th in 20:52.8.<\/p>\n

The Aspen boys finished 17th at state in 2018, but lost their top three runners because of graduation. BHS did not qualify any boys to state last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly not as strong or as deep as we were last year. But we\u2019ve got some good potential,\u201d Keleher said of the AHS boys, who also did not have a full squad competing Saturday. \u201cWhat do they say? We don\u2019t rebuild, we reload? Well, we are rebuilding. Which is fine. They are all fun to run with and hopefully we scan shock some people like we did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gunnison junior Alex Baca won Saturday\u2019s Longhorn Invite in 16:52.4. Baca, who finished 14th at state last fall, won by nearly two minutes over Coal Ridge freshman Tyler Parker (18:43.7). Soroco junior Alex Colby was third in 18:47.9.<\/p>\n

Glenwood Springs, led by a fifth-place finish by sophomore Quinn MacPherson (18:58.6), won the boys\u2019 team title with 59 points. Gunnison was second with 62 points and Rifle was third with 80 points.<\/p>\n

THEY\u2019LL BE BACK<\/p>\n

While Basalt\u2019s home meet has been the season opener in recent years, this one meant a bit more, as it will also be where regionals are held on Oct. 19. Some of the schools that competed Saturday, such as Glenwood Springs and Soroco, compete in a different classification. Others, like Aspen, Coal Ridge and Rifle, will return to the Crown Mountain Park course vying for a spot at the state meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good because we get a bit of the home town advantage because it\u2019s down here. But it\u2019s also a little nerve-wracking because it\u2019s flat and we are used to running the hills a lot,\u201d Kylie Kenny said of the course. \u201cIt\u2019s different to push through the flat than to go up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The start and finish lines were a bit different on Saturday than in the past because that area will need to accommodate more runners at regionals and they were using the meet as a bit of a trial before the bigger show in October. Otherwise, Lund said the course was about 90% the same as it had been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super excited to have it on that course. I\u2019m obviously very familiar with it,\u201d Bower said of regionals. \u201cThat makes it so much more exciting and people from my school can come and watch if they want to. It\u2019s super nice having it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen will host its annual home race on Oct. 5, two weeks before regionals. The state cross country meet is Oct. 19 in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basalt High School junior Sierra Bower competes in the Longhorn Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, at Crown Mountain Park. Bower won the season-opening cross country race in 19:21.6. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times If Basalt High School junior Sierra Bower plans to compete for the state cross country championship \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 16:21:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}